This invention relates to wireless communication systems, and more particularly, to supporting disparate packet based wireless communications.
In a wireless communication system, voice, video, and/or data may be communicated between applications in one or more data units, such as payloads. Each payload may be broken into one or more packets of data that may be exchanged between wirelessly networked devices or systems. However, a wireless transfer of packets, and/or payloads over a short-range communication link may be difficult because wireless communications not only have to be low-power but also have to be able to overcome interference and fading while providing wireless communications comparable to wireline data transmission rates and reliability. To address some of these constraints while providing a short-range communication link between a source and a target transceiver, a managed flow of data within a channel is generally provided from the sending end to the receiving end on a wireless link. Particularly, to expedite the flow of the data in channels across a wireless link, data multiplexing and flow control schemes are commonly used, among other techniques. However, providing multiple data channels on a single wireless link may be inefficient because the data transfers of one channel may be blocked by those of another channel, causing delays of data on high priority channels.
Specifically, modern wireless communications systems support the negotiation of Quality of Service (QoS) agreements for individual channels on a wireless link. The latency and bandwidth of a channel are two QoS parameters that are typically negotiated. Inefficient multiplexing may make it impossible to reliably control the latency or bandwidth of a channel. For example, if channel data is multiplexed in payload sized entities, then the transmission of one payload must be completed before the another payload can be started. If the transmission of a large, low priority payload is started and immediately after that a high priority payload is scheduled, then the transmission of the high priority payload will be delayed until the low priority payload is complete. This delay could jeopardize the ability of the system to meet the agreed upon QoS parameters.
Inadequate flow control may result in unacceptable delays and/or even a loss of data. For example, a packet of data of a payload may be improperly received at the target transceiver, necessitating a retransmission of either the packet of data or the complete payload from the source transceiver. Recoveries from such a delay or loss of data may be expensive because this may involve additional time and use of resources. As a result, reliability and speed of data transmission may drop below an acceptable level. Under these circumstances, wireless communication systems may offer significantly reduced robustness and data transmission rates than generally desired, especially for a short-range wireless communication link.
Thus, there is a continuing need for better ways to support wireless communications over a communication link.